Privacy Act Introduction

The Privacy Act of 1974 is a Federal
law that is set forth in Title 5, Section 552a, of the United States Code (5
U.S.C.552a), as amended. The purpose of the Privacy Act is to balance the
Government’s need to maintain information about individuals with the rights of
individuals to be protected against unwarranted invasions of their privacy
resulting from the collection, maintenance, use, and disclosure of personal
information. In general, the Privacy Act focuses on four basic policy
objectives:

To restrict disclosure of personally identifiable
records maintained by agencies;

To grant individuals increased rights of access to
agency records maintained on them;

To grant individuals the right to seek amendment of
agency records maintained on them upon showing that the records are not
accurate, relevant, timely, or complete, and,

To establish a code of “fair information practices”
which requires agencies to comply with statutory norms for collection,
maintenance, and dissemination of records.

The Privacy Act applies only to U.S.
citizens and aliens who are lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the
United States. It applies only to personal information maintained by agencies
in the Executive Branch of the Federal Government.

The Privacy Act pertains only to
information that is maintained in a “system of records,” which the Act defines
as a group of agency-controlled records from which information is retrieved by
a unique identifier, such as an individual’s name, date of birth, social
security number, or employee identification number. The Privacy Act further
defines a “record” as any individually identifiable set of information that an
agency might maintain about a person. Such records may include a wide variety
of personal information including, but not limited to, information about
education, financial transactions, medical history, criminal history, or
employment history. However, the Privacy Act explicitly states that agencies
may not maintain information about how individuals exercise their First
Amendment rights, unless maintenance of that information is specifically
authorized by statute, by the individual about whom the record is maintained,
or relates to a law enforcement activity.

Exemptions to
the Privacy Act

There are two
general and seven specific exemptions in the Privacy Act. The two general
exemptions cover:

All records maintained by the Central Intelligence
Agency (not applicable to PEACE CORPS).

Selected records maintained by an agency or
component thereof which performs as its principal functions any activity
pertaining to the enforcement of criminal laws (only used by PEACE CORPS’s
Office of the Inspector General).

In addition, the
Privacy Act provides seven specific exemptions:

Information that is properly classified in
the interest of national defense or foreign policy.

Investigatory material compiled for law
enforcement purposes not covered by the general exemptions. The specific law
enforcement exemption is limited when—as a result of the maintenance of the
records—an individual is denied any right, privilege, or benefit to which he or
she would be entitled by Federal law or for which he or she would otherwise be
entitled. In such cases, disclosure is required except where it would reveal
the identity of a confidential source who furnished information to the
Government under an express promise that the identity of the source would be
held in confidence.

Information maintained in connection with
providing protective services to the President of the United States or other
individuals who receive protection from the Secret Service.

Information required by statute to be
maintained and used solely as statistical records.

Investigatory material compiled solely for
the purpose of determining suitability, eligibility, or qualifications for
Federal civilian employment, military service, Federal contracts, or access to
classified information, but only to the extent that the disclosure of such
material would reveal the identity of a source who furnished information to the
Government under an express promise that the identity of the source would be
held in confidence.

Testing or examination material used solely
to determine individual qualifications for appointment or promotion in the
Federal Service, but only to the extent that the disclosure of such material
would compromise the objectivity or fairness of the testing or examination
process.

Evaluation material used to determine potential for promotion in the
armed services, but only to the extent that the disclosure of such material
would reveal the identity of a source who furnished information to the
Government under an express promise that the identity of the source would be
held in confidence.

File a Privacy
Complaint

We take your privacy seriously, and
have created a process by which you can formally file a complaint with our
Chief Privacy Officer.

Privacy complaints we can help with

We accept written complaints about:

How the PEACE CORPS collects or uses personal
information;

How, when, and with whom the PEACE CORPS shares
personal information;

The type(s) and/or amount of personal information
the PEACE CORPS collects; and

Any other concern(s) you may have about how the PEACE
CORPS handles personal information and/or its impact(s) on personal
privacy.

Complaints about the privacy of a
business entity, a corporation, or any entity other than a person are not
covered by our privacy complaint procedures.

Please keep in mind that Privacy Act requests
for access, amendment, or correction are not privacy complaints – filing a
complaint does not negate or replace your right to seek judicial relief under
the Privacy Act or other federal laws for violations of individual privacy
rights.

Submit a privacy complaint

To submit a complaint, you can write
a letter that includes:

Your name

A summary of your complaint or a written description
of the specific circumstances

A summary of other steps taken, if any, by you or
the PEACE CORPS to resolve this complaint

A preferred method of contact about your complaint –
a mailing address, telephone number, email address or fax number

Evaluation
procedure

We will send you an acknowledgement letter within 5
business days of our receipt of your complaint.

We will review and categorize the complaint as:
Process and procedural, redress, operational or referral (we will refer it
to the right office or federal agency if we’re not the right ones to
address the issue).

The Chief Privacy Officer will recommend any
necessary actions in response to the complaint. We’ll let you know once
your complaint is closed and, in general, include what, if any, action
we’re taking in response to the complaint.

Our goal is to review and close complaints within 20 business days. For
complaints that we’ll need more than the normal time to close, we’ll contact
you to give a status update